Sexual Abuse Cover Up

Eight Planned Parenthood facilities were willing to cover up sexual abuse in six different states

Every state in the U.S. has laws prohibiting sex with minors. Statutory rape is when someone has sex with a minor below the state’s age of consent, and is a form of child abuse. According to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, for “female victims younger than 14, 30% of their male offenders were at least 10 years older than the victims.”

Many states also have laws that require certain professionals (such as teachers, counselors, health care providers) to report any instances of suspected abuse. These protections are called “mandatory reporting” laws.

Live Action went undercover to find out how Planned Parenthood and another independent abortion facility would respond in a situation where a young girl disclosed that she was a victim of statutory rape.

Lila Rose and Jackie Stollar posed as girls as young as 13, with “boyfriends” as old as 31. The investigation found eight Planned Parenthood facilities in six different states were willing to cover up sexual abuse, including disregarding mandatory reporting laws of suspected statutory rape. Facilities also provided instructions on how to circumvent parental consent laws.

Investigations

In Bloomington, the nurse acknowledged that she was required by law to report the abuse to Child Protective Services, but assured Lila that she would not disclose it. She then coached her to circumvent parental notification laws by going out of state for the abortion and told her to lie about the age of her “boyfriend.” The Planned Parenthood employee was suspended and later fired.

In Indianapolis, Lila went undercover as a 13-year-old girl who had gotten pregnant by a 31-year-old man. When the Planned Parenthood employee was told the age of the “boyfriend,” she stated that they didn’t care about the age and wouldn’t report it. As in Bloomington, Lila was advised to go across state lines to obtain a secret abortion and to lie about her boyfriend’s age. After the release of the video, the staffer resigned.

Planned Parenthood claimed they retrained their employees, but chose a group with extremely close ties to the abortion chain to do the training. They also refused to release the number of reports made to Child Protective Services in conjunction with the number of minors below the age of 14 given STD testing, abortion counseling, pregnancy testing, and birth control.

Tucson was the third Planned Parenthood facility to show a disturbing willingness to break the law in Live Action’s multi-state statutory rape investigation. Jackie posed as a 15-year-old impregnated by a 27-year-old. The nurse advised her not to bring her “boyfriend” to the judicial hearing required in Arizona to waive parental consent. It was not the first time Planned Parenthood of Arizona failed to report abuse. Following the release of the video, Planned Parenthood promised to do an internal review but refused to apologize and admitted no wrongdoing.

Our undercover investigation found that two Planned Parenthood facilities in Phoenix refused to report statutory rape. Jackie and Lila posed as 15-year-old girls, with Jackie telling the Planned Parenthood staffer at one clinic that her “boyfriend” was 27 and informing the other clinic staffer that her “boyfriend” was “a lot older.” Both clinics failed to report the abuse.

After the Phoenix video was released, the Maricopa County district attorney opened an investigation into Planned Parenthood but decided to not prosecute Planned Parenthood because the state’s mandatory sexual abuse reporting requirement was interpreted to only cover licensed medical professionals at Planned Parenthood and not other staff. The county attorney called for the law to be changed to close the reporting loophole.

Planned ParenthoodPHOENIX, AZ

Our undercover video found that two clinics in Phoenix broke the law by refusing to report statutory rape. Jackie Stollar and Lila Rose posed as 15-year-old girls, with Stollar telling the Planned Parenthood staffer at one clinic that her boyfriend was 27, and told the other clinic staffer that her boyfriend was “a lot older”. Both clinics failed to report the abuse.

After the Phoenix video was released, the Maricopa County District Attorney opened an investigation into Planned Parenthood but decided to not prosecute Planned Parenthood because they interpreted the state’s mandatory sexual abuse reporting requirement to only cover medical professionals at Planned Parenthood and not other staff. The District Attorney called for the current law to be changed so that the reporting loophole would be closed and all staff at a medical facility would be required to report child sexual abuse when made aware.

In Memphis, a Planned Parenthood counselor was caught telling Lila, who was posing as a 14-year-old girl, to lie about her 31-year-old boyfriend’s age to get an abortion. The staffer counsels Rose to lie to a judge about her boyfriend’s age to bypass parental notification laws, admits that she should report the abuse, but chooses to do nothing.

Planned Parenthood states that the employee voluntarily resigned between the video’s filming and its release. Following the video’s release, Tennessee lawmakers voted to defund Planned Parenthood by up to $1.1 million.

A Planned Parenthood facility in Birmingham was caught on camera telling Lila, who was posing undercover as a 14-year-old girl impregnated by a 31-year-old man, that the clinic “does sometimes bend the rules a little bit.”

The Birmingham video became the sixth undercover video to be released in this investigation, implicating Planned Parenthood in a nationwide, multi-state scandal.

Lila told the counselor her boyfriend’s age and that she didn’t want her parents to find out about the abortion or about her boyfriend.

The counselor told Lila that “as long as you consented to having sex with him, there’s nothing we can truly do about that.” She admitted that the boyfriend could get in trouble but said that any information given “stays within these walls,” The counselor also told Lila to use the signature of somebody besides her parents, like an older sister, to act as a substitute for parental consent.

Following the release of the video, the Alabama attorney general investigated and found nine violations. After the attorney general’s investigation, the facility was put on probation.

In Milwaukee, WI, a Planned Parenthood counselor tells Lila, who was posing as a 14-year-old, that the situation could be reported, depending on who she tells. Lila then tells the counselor that her boyfriend is 31, and the counselor tells Lila that she doesn’t have to say anything and to “just give them the information that’s needed.”

In Wisconsin, sex between a minor under the age of 16 and an adult is a felony, and health care professionals are required to report the information immediately. Planned Parenthood Wisconsin CEO Teri Huyck claimed that a report was not made because a last name was not given. Live Action responded by releasing the extended footage proving otherwise.

Lila Rose and fellow investigator Jackie Stollar posed as minors, with Lila telling the staff that she was 14 years old and impregnated by her 31-year-old “boyfriend.”

In the video, an EMW counselor determines that Lila is “14 to 15 weeks pregnant,” and Lila expresses that she wants to keep the situation secret from her parents. Despite not having any indication that Lila will face abusive parents, the facility guides her to call Louisville attorney Mickey Adams so that Adams can help her obtain a judicial bypass around Kentucky’s parental consent law and avoid informing her parents about the abortion and the illegal relationship.

In the state of Kentucky, sex between a 14-year-old and a 31-year-old is rape in the third degree and would reasonably be considered sexual abuse of a child — a crime which must be reported to law enforcement immediately. The abortion facility failed to ask the questions necessary to file a child sexual abuse report and did not counsel Lila about the illegal or dangerous nature of her sexual relationship.